Selection committee of Sri Lanka Athletics have decided to drop the men’s 4×100 metres quartet from Sri Lanka’s team for the Asian Athletics Championship starting in Gumi, South Korea next week.
The not so impressive performance of the country’s relay team inclusive of Yupun Abeykoon at the recently held Dubai Grand Prix has prompted the selectors to take the difficult decision, a source close to Sri Lanka Athletics told ‘The Island’.
“It was clear that Sri Lanka’s team were not up to standard. With a performance like that, selectors are not sure whether the team could even reach the final at the Asian Championship,” an official close to the selectors said refering to the team’s performance in Dubai.
The Sri Lanka team inclusive of Chamod Yodasinghe, Yupun Abeykoon, Merone Wijesinghe and Deneth Weeraratne returned a time of 39.41 seconds at the Dubai Grand Prix. Official results ranked Sri Lanka in the third position though the country finished fourth behind India’s A and B teams and Oman.
Sri Lanka Athletics has maintained tough selection standardeds in picking teams for overseas events. The track and field governing body often set average bronze medal performance from the last three editions as the selection standard. Selection of Italy based sprinter Yupun Abeykoon and national 100 metres champion Chamod Yodasinghe in the team for their pet event at the Asian Championship influenced the authorities to pick a 4×100 metres team initially.
Both Abeykoon and Yodasinghe have been retained in the team to compete in the 100 metres.
A team of twenty athletes were originally selected for the Asian Championship. The team included four relay teams. With the men’s 4×100 metres team dropped, the men’s and women’s 4x400m, and mixed relay teams will now compete for honours.
Sri Lanka excelled at the last edition of the championships winning eight medals including three in relay events. While the men’s 4×400 metres team won the gold with a new championship record, the women’s 4×400 team anchored by Tharushi Karunaratne won silver with a new national record performance. Tharushi was also part of the silver winning 4×400 metres mixed relay team.
Sri Lanka have a tough ask matching the outstanding performances they showcased at the Bangkok event in 2023.
While Tharushi Karunaratne who also won the gold in the 800 metres is not a part of the current team, Aruna Dharshana who was involved in both the men’s 4×400 metres and the mixed relay at the last edition is recovering from an injury. He is scheduled to face a fitness test before the team leave for South Korea.
by Reemus Fernando
from The Island https://ift.tt/b8kGu7B
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